


Dead and Gone

by xFourLeafCloverx



Category: Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space, Implied/Referenced Torture, KuroFai Olympics, M/M, Prompt: Dameons, Team Space, Yaoi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-18
Updated: 2019-08-18
Packaged: 2020-09-07 06:44:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 20,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20305159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xFourLeafCloverx/pseuds/xFourLeafCloverx
Summary: Fai and Kurogane are some of the finest mercenaries in the galaxy. However, they have a long part of loss and royalty. What are they planning and how do Sakura and Syaoran play into it all? Written for the KuroFai Olympics 2019! Team Space, prompt Daemons. If you want to vote on this and all the other fics, go to the KuroFai dreamwidth!. Thanks for reading!





	1. Chapter 1

“Welcome to Celes,” the twins said in unison. It was rare to see them together in the city, but the travelers were more than important enough to cause this greeting. 

The war Celes was fighting had been a continuing effort for over a century. The twin Kings had ruled for nearly all of it, being raised to protect the planet from the wrath of the war. The family before them were representatives from Shirasaki, a very spiritual but fierce planet, here to lend aid if they could.

“It is lovely to be here,” bowed the woman. She was a priestess for one of their many regions. Fai remembered the name Suwa, but he wasn’t certain.

The man bowed with her, “The Empress sends her regards.”

Fai stepped forward, “It’s alright. We understand her need to stay home. Please, come with us inside. It’s nearly nightfall.”

The two nodded and started to follow Fai. It was then that Yui saw the child standing close behind them.

“Oh?” he grinned, “And who is this?”

The man motioned the child closer, “My son, Kurogane. I hope you don’t mind him coming with us.”

Yui shook his head, then looked over to Fai for permission. He often forgot his place between the two of them.

Fai was unsure, but hid his confusion behind a wide smile, “Of course not. We have more than enough room for him.”

Yui stooped to Kurogane’s level and held out his hand, “Pleased to meet you, Kuro-chan.” He had learned much about the Shirasaki culture and knew that children were often referred to by ‘cute’ versions of their names. He didn’t quite understand it, but he wanted to be inviting. 

A tick worked in young Kurogane’s jaw,but he took the hand and kneeled, touching it to his forehead. He had a crash course on how to treat the Celes royals on the trip. 

Yui was surprised by the gesture, as he had only meant to shake his hand. Kurogane had unknowingly pledged his mind and body to Celes with such a move. It looked like his parents understood that much as they hid laughter behind their sleeves. Perhaps what he had done had been silly as well.

Either way, Yui decided not to hold the child to such a declaration. He stood, “Now, let’s head inside before the frost begins.”

Fai lead a short tour through the guest portion of the palace. It was fairly open concept for a planet consumed by frosts at night, and storms by morning. The corridors seemed to open right to the outside. Yui explained the fields they used to keep the harsh weather out. With a gloved hand, he even showed how one could pass through it and only feel the stark change in temperature. 

The tour ended in a meeting hall that was fitted to host dinner. The twins took their places across from each other at the round table and their guests followed suit. Dinner was brought out by well-dressed servants with even looks on their faces. It was a wide array of dishes from meats to desserts. 

Kurogane found it odd how all the courses were served side by side. He watched one King start properly with a thick stew. The other, the one who had treated him like a toddler, started with a frosting topped pastry. He had been placed between both of them while his parents were on the other side. It was an honor, he knew, but these strange looking creatures were just too flippant to be revered. 

Pale skin was seen as more beautiful in his home. His mother’s in particular was likened to an untrodden snow field. Kurogane’s own, like his father’s, was tanned from the work he did outside. Pale was fine and normal among nobility, but the people of this world were on a different level. 

The Kings’ hair had a barely golden hue and their skin was nearly translucent. The one normal eye each had was icier than the frost building up on the terrace. The oddities of the species didn’t end there. They all had long ears that pushed to a point at the end. He watched closer as they ate and notice the blue tinge continued into their mouths, lips barely a different shade. Everything here seemed to be leeched of color. Everything but the dark metal of the two fake eyes. The blue light emitted matched their real ones, but Kurogane couldn’t help but be innerved by it. He wondered if they’d ever seen the sun.

Kurogane found a lull in the conversation and spoke up, “What happened to your eyes?”

Everyone at the table grew quiet and looked at him. His mother looked like she was about to scold him for such a pointed question, but Yui spoke before she could.

“One of us was simply born without it. The other had it surgically removed so there would be no difference between us,” he smiled softly.

Kurogane nodded slowly. He vaguely remembered that only one of them ruled this planet. It was whichever one was born without the eye. Whether it was Fai or Yui, no one knew. They were supposed to be indistinguishable to be swapped out in case of emergency. Seeing both at any given time was a treat to these people. 

“Is it something that runs in your family?”

“Hm? You mean being born without an eye?”

Kurogane nodded quickly.

“No, not specifically-”

“But every past ruler had a missing eye, right?”

“You’re a sharp one, aren’t you?” Yui chuckled.

Fai took over the explanation with a soft smile, “Our father was a tailor. King Ashura raised us from birth because of our blessing. When another set is born without an eye, we will be replaced after training them.”

Kurogane thought about the word ‘blessing.’ He would call it a defect, and in his home it actually would be. Here it was completely different. The Daemons changed an epidemic into a kind of religion. He knew they were secular now but being born with limbs was still seen as lucky. 

“I apologize for his questions,” his mother said before he could pry deeper.

Yui was the one to respond this time, “No need to apologize at all. We understand our Daemons’ are not commonplace in your home. You don’t believe in their use, correct?”

The man shook his head, “We don’t. We have other protections through our high priestesses.”

Yui’s eye lit up at the mention of Shirasaki Priestesses. They were well known, if not seen as obsolete. “Would you mind telling us more of your arts? They’ve always interested me,” he asked genuinely.

The first of their meals together continued lightly, both sides merely chatting until they finished. Yui and Fai took turns asking and answering questions. The back and forth speaking came naturally after the century of practice. 

It was Yui who lead them to their rooms for the night. Kurogane’s parents were left in their room first, leaving Kurogane and Yui to walk alone. 

“Which one of you are King?”

“Neither,” Yui replied without skipping a beat.

Kurogane glanced up. Yui was a good liar. He knew one of them was the ruler, but he still half believed Yui’s words.

“Is that what you always say?”

“No one ever asks that question. It’s dangerous,” Yui smiled and stopped outside Kurogane’s room.

The child looked up, “Would you kill someone if they knew?”

“Immediately,” Yui opened the door for him, “Sleep well, Kuro-chan.”

Kurogane scowled but entered to room without protest.

The following days were routine. Yui and Fai would talk with their guests about both frivolities and strategies. Kurogane found a sparring chamber early on the second day. The twins would find him practicing daily, spending the time beating up all of the army’s training dummies.

Fai thought he was wasting their resources out of spite. He went through training materials like they were paper. If only they were that cheap and useless. These dummies were for their, admittedly meager, army, not for a foreign boy to rip apart.

Yui thought he was just releasing stress as a young boy should.

“You have to admit he’s talented,” Yui smiled and watched him from the balcony.

“He’s strong, not talented. Someone with talent wouldn’t need to rip through the fabric,” Fai grumbled about the prices wool and cotton as Kurogane busted another seam.

Yui chuckled, “If it’ll make you feel better, I could give him a sparring partner?”

“We can’t spare any of our soldiers to entertain a child…” Fai frowned and glanced over at his brother.

Yui was already hopping the balcony to reach the gymnasium floor. He landed softly on a large pile of blankets that were stored there for emergency use. It knocked the wind out of him, but it was also a feat he’d done many times. 

Kurogane spun around at the sound, poised to fight whatever intruder was there. He slowly lowered his weapon but didn’t turn his back on the foolish man, “What do you want?”

Yui grinned, “Brother doesn’t like you beating up all our training dummies. I volunteered to spar with you.”

“Isn’t that dangerous?” Kurogane grumbled and glanced up to where Fai was watching.

“Maybe a little, but you seem to know how to handle yourself!”

The boy glared at him, “I meant for you. You know how to fight in melee range?”

Yui shrugged and taunted, “It hardly matters if you can’t hit me.”

Kurogane no longer hesitated to attack in full force. He knew what he was risking, but what kind of man could turn down such a challenge. 

Fai watched as Kurogane charged forward and swung. He merely sighed and shook his head as Yui dodged to the side. If nothing else, Yui had an amazing ability to avoid things. He avoided his duty, he avoided his lessons, and he avoided being struck. 

Kurogane grunted after a few attempts. He noticed Yui always stayed in close range. Whether that was to taunt him further or was some sort of strategy, Kurogane couldn’t even guess. All he knew is that it pissed him off. The pale man was laughing as he danced around the wooden blade. 

“Pay attention, Kuro-chan!” Yui wrapped the hanging sleeve of his robe around the blade and threw Kurogane off balance.

The boy stumbled back and lost his weapon. His head snapped up, “That would never work in a real fight! The sword would slice right through your clothes!”

“Hm?” Yui smiled and relaxed his stance, “But you weren’t using a metal sword. Why did I need worry about it?”

Kurogane’s eye looked further enraged, “What do you mean ‘why?!’ Training is to prepare for real battle! What good is training if you use unusable tactics to win?”

Yui shook his head, “That’s not the right thought process. Each battle you fight will be unique. You’ll go up against blades, guns, and blunt weapons alike. Often a full variety with each battle.” He made his way over to a closet and pulled out a long sword. 

Yui knew the people of Shirasaki prided themselves on swordsmanship that rivals modern warfare. Their techniques bordered on supernatural, but it was still a martial art. 

Kurogane eyed him, “What’s that for?”

Yui presented it to him, “Souhi. It can freeze anything it touches. Don’t worry, though. It’s not a daemon, just specialized to be more effective in less capable hands.”

Kurogane took the sword and inspected it. Souhi was high quality and well balanced considering the technology rigged into the hilt. After giving it a test swing, he readied his stance against Yui.

He smiled in return, “Good. If you plan to fight with a sword, you should use one to spar.”

Kurogane rushed Yui without replying. He had a similar result, Yui dodging every swing just enough. He limited his movements and stayed close slow Kurogane couldn’t get in a full swing. It was a clever move.

Kurogane jumped back to give himself some space. He gripped the hilt tighter to prepare for his next attack. 

Yui’s face sharpened and held his hand out, wrist loose in front of him, “Choose your next move carefully. I know about your arts, if only minorly. It’s taxing on your body and I have an infallible weapon. I am not your teacher, but I suggest you learn to match your opponents without mysticism.”

Kurogane grit his teeth but eventually relaxed his stance, “You volunteering to spar until that happens?”

The bead of metal behind him flew back to Yui’s crown and his smile returned, “I think I am. At least while you remain here.”

Fai cleared his throat on the balcony, “Are you done, yet? We have an artisans’ meeting soon.”

Yui glanced up and nodded, “It’s time to call it for today. Please refrain from training here without me. I’ll find time daily; I promise.”

Nearly a month passed with Yui flying between his meetings, both war a civil alike, and his sparring sessions. Kurogane was moving quickly towards his goal to land a blow on the cocky King. 

They moved in sync across the floor. Yui never seemed to put much effort into his movements, but Kurogane was learning a lot more about his act. After he figured out that it was a strategy, he tried to stop falling for it.

The alien often acted more flippant than he truly was. Kurogane decided it was a ploy to make his opponents underestimate him. Either that or it was purely to frustrate them. Kurogane often fell into the latter group, but he was working on staying focused.

This day in particular he wanted to best Yui. His own father had come to see what they were up to. After finding out they had been training for the better part of a month, he wanted to see his son’s improvement. Kurogane couldn’t tell at a glance if he was proud or not. He only knew that besting a centuries old King would do the trick.

Yui’s smile sharpened as Kurogane pushed harder than he had all month. His father’s presence changed much about how the boy moved. He was going all out for this. He really wanted to win. 

Yui couldn’t let him do that.

Kurogane grunted and tried a new tactic. It was supposed to throw the King off, but each new strategy he tried only made Yui seem stronger. A tick worked in his jaw as an angering realization hit. Yui was holding back. Every time Kurogane worked more, Yui revealed more of what he could do. 

He tightened the hold on his sword and resisted the urge to use his techniques. How could he win a battle that he had a huge disadvantage in? Kurogane thought through his options but staying idle for too long would mean his surrender. 

He charged forward only to slow back to a stop. Yui wasn’t moving anymore. He was stock still, fake eye glowing brightly. Fai and his father were on the training floor in a blur of motion. 

Fai nodded to their silent conversation and turned to Kurogane’s father, “Go to your soldiers. A large group has shattered the barriers. We don’t know how, but Yui is pulling them back together. See that he and your wife get to the sanctum.”

The man glanced at his son, “Stay with King Fai no matter what happens. You’ll be more useful with him.”

Kurogane translated it to ‘You’ll be safer’ as Yui and his father ran out the door. “I thought this planet was unable to be invaded.”

Fai lead Kurogane out, “A myth. Nothing is certain even though our defenses are incredibly strong. Stay close to me.”

“Are we just going to run?”

Fai shook his head, “I am a King. I can’t just run.”

“Then what are we going to do?”

“Protect my people. Help them escape and try to preserve what we can,” Fai braced against the wall as a quake shook through the castle, “Shit!”

Kurogane snapped up, “What’s happened?!”

“They’ve already come this far?” his eye glowed brightly, “Freya, domino.”

Fai ripped out a coat from a storage closet and passed it to Kurogane, “Get this on, you’re going to need it.”

“What’s ‘domino?’”

Like an answer, the barrier to the outside at the end of the hall broke down. The cold rushed in and Kurogane got his coat closed up quickly. His first question answered, he continued to follow Fai out.

“What’s Yui going to do with my parents?” he shouted over the wind.

“His duty, just as we are. Quickly now!”

They took off down the hall and out to the city. There were bodies, no surprise to Kurogane, but there were far more enemy soldiers. Fai snuck around troops. The boy had no idea where they were heading, but it must have been important to take such a large risk like this.

“Where are your people? This place is a ghost town,” he whispered urgently.

Fai pulled him into an abandoned house, “They’re evacuated. We’ll do the same once we’re done.” 

He crept on the ground and opened a hidden hatch in the floor, “Different houses lead to different cashes. They all have supplies and a way to escape, but they aren’t all connected. We have to get to a certain place before the invaders find it.”

“What’s there? The Crown?”

“The Crown is safe. There’s something else we need to get,” Fai said simply.

His vague explanation annoyed Kurogane, but he stayed close regardless. An invasion was not the time to question those above you. They came to a small opening and crouched inside the room. It was bare save a portal to the side and two eggs in the center.

“Eggs? We’re risking our lives for a couple of eggs?”

“You’ve spent a month here and you never once passed by the hatchery? These are Celesians… and candidates for succession.”

Kurogane shrugged off the comment, not sure how to take the new information. He’d seen many chickens hatch in his lifetime. Trying to imagine intelligent like hatching from the, admittedly large, eggs gave him chills. 

“So, what now?”

Fai wrapped the eggs gently and set them in a fancy box. After closing it, he pushed the box through the portal and shut it down. More than that, he used his daemon to break it beyond repair.

“Wasn’t that our way out?”

Fai shook his head, “No. That’s for the children only.”

“Where did they go?” Kurogane asked, staring at the remains of the portal.

“I don’t know. Only Yui does. We delegate to keep the information safe. I know where to find them, Yui knows where to send them.”

Kurogane nodded once, “And where is he going to send us?”

They exchanged a look just before the tunnel began to shake violently. Fai was quick to shield them with his daemon. The ground above them cracked to reveal their enemies.

“Oh?” the thin man above them grinned, “We’ve found a King hiding in a hole. How noble.”

Fai glared harshly, “What would you know of it, Rondart?”

He used his daemon to pull himself out of the hole and confront the man, “Are you prepared to die today?”

Rondart shook his head lazily, “I will not be dying today. I’m here to take the Crown from your head.”

Kurogane climbed out of the hole while the invaders were distracted. Sword in hand, he wondered how good the enemy actually was. Could he take them?

Rondart glanced in his direction, “In fact, I suspect you’ll just hand over that crown of yours.”

Fai whipped towards Kurogane, sending his crown to help. It was too late. The King’s eyes widened in horror and he jumped the hole to catch Kurogane as he fell.

Kurogane didn’t really feel the pain, not at first. He blinked in shock when he fell, not sure what had even happened. His side was warmer than usual, but his arm was… No. His arm wasn’t anything. He lulled his head away from Fai and saw it detached and useless beside him. Then his mind shut off.

“He’s a child!” Fai cried and held the broken boy closer. He had already lost a great deal of blood and Fai’s hand against the wound wasn’t helping very much.

“If I were you, I’d have fled without him. This is the mistake that costs your life.”

Fai did not see a clear way out. He was at a disadvantage and held a bleeding child. His eye shone brightly before his crown disconnected and shot several blasts towards the attacker. He used the distraction to activate his portal and get them both to safety. 

Fai worked quickly to stem the bleeding. He was able to slow it dramatically but still worried the child wouldn’t make it. He looked around to see where they had landed. It was completely unfamiliar to him. It was a different planet. 

“Yui?” Fai’s head whipped around as he held Kurogane tighter, “Yui?!” 

Of all the Celesians around him, Yui was nowhere to be seen.


	2. Chapter 2

“This is fun!”

“This is not fun!”

Fai shot out into the crowd of thieves, “You’re not looking on the bright side! We already have what we need!”

Kurogane rolled his eyes and formed Ginryuu from his arm, “You have a plan to get out of here? Nothing else really matters right now!”

Fai chuckled and took cover once again, “I think so. Mind distracting them for a bit?”

“How long do you need?”

“Eh…” Fai’s eye blazed to life, “20 seconds?”

Kurogane rolled his shoulders and jumped into the line of fire. Ginryuu emitted a soft light. He focused his energy into the weapon and unleashed it on the crew in a wide strike. He could instantly see their new recruits skidding away from the battle. 

The old hats had enough experience with Kurogane and dodge the attack, but it created enough chaos to give him a leg up. He charged the crew and jumped to slam down on a few of them. The ground cracked under him, but his opponent’s managed to move out of his way. From there, Kurogane focused on defending himself. There was a veritable crowd surrounding him now and he couldn’t help but think Fai’s 20 seconds were long gone. 

Thankfully, the wall Kurogane was facing was blasted away. He jumped away from the rubble and spun to watch his partner’s crazy grin. Fai hacked their own ship. It couldn’t have been easy with how far their ship had been, but he did it anyway. 

Kurogane didn’t waste any time and dashed for the ship. He jumped to a spar hatch and reach his hand out to catch Fai. It lifted them away from the building before either of them was safely inside, but they managed to open the hatch and get in before they broke atmosphere. 

“That was ridiculous,” Kurogane mumbled as he slumped against the wall.

“I can’t believe that worked!” Fai said, equally slumped on the other side of the hallway, “Am I getting too reckless?”

Kurogane rolled his eyes, “You just piloted a military ship remotely, leaving yourself 100% open for attack against Seishirou’s gang. You would have never done something so stupid as a king.”

“Watch it, buster! I still am King.” Fai snapped and stood, “Let’s go get our bounty.”

Kurogane saluted from the floor, “Yes, your Highness.”

They went directly to seedy part of the planet. The continent they came from was more pristine and brighter. Like all planets, there was the less fortunate continents that had plenty of organizations looking to hire. The two had worked for the Mohawk Gang before. Clearly, they weren’t all that happy with the partnership.

“Here’s your jewels,” Fai grinned and dropped the heavy bag on the table. 

Their employer’s eyes widened several degrees as he scooted back in his chair. He glanced between the hunters and the stolen items within his grasp. 

“Well?” Fai crossed his arms, “Where’s our reward? I hope you know we had a great deal of trouble. The price has increased. Call it ‘hazard pay.’”

With a shaking hand, he waved his accountant over, “W-what sort of trouble?”

Fai shrugged and plopped down in the seat, “The kind you must have paid out the ass for. Too bad they failed. Now you’ve got to pay out the ass again, yeah?”

The man paled and gulped. The money was handed over, but Fai didn’t touch it. His partner grabbed the disk and popped it in his arm.

“300 kits,” he reported.

“Ooo~ That’s a lot of money indeed… Who was that going to be for?”

“Y-”

“Don’t bother answering if you’re going to lie. You wanted to kill us and took advantage of someone else who wanted to kill us,” Fai sighed, “I don’t actually care who’s about to be severely pissed off.”

Fai stood up, satisfied with his pay, “We’re off, sir. Nice doing business with you. Don’t call us again.”

The two mercenaries turned and left the cantina, Kurogane skulking behind Fai to watch his back. It was their normal formation, even though it was unnecessary. Fai had no need to have his back watched.

“You take his fortune?” Kurogane mumbled.

Fai smirked to the man, “Not all of it. He’ll trace it back to Seishirou’s crew. Won’t do him much good, but the Mohawks will likely assume he was taking damage payments.”

Kurogane shrugged, “He wouldn’t have come after us anyway. Seishirou’s becoming a problem though.”

“He was always a problem,” Fai sighed, “But we’ve dodged him every time. He’s after the Crown, and we don’t have it. The danger will only increase when we get it.”

“When will that be?”

“Don’t get too excited, big boy. I have no idea.”

Kurogane tightened his fists, “That damned fool.”

“Not here,” Fai whispered then continued at a normal volume, “We’re going to Clow to refuel and restock. After that, Caldina has a proposition for us. Should be fun!”

“Caldina? I thought she got herself killed?” He walked into the ship behind Fai and closed the hatch. 

“Nearly, but the people of Fahren have more than a few tricks up their sleeves. Now she wants our help.”

They started towards the cockpit in silence. 

“That’s not going to be fun,” Kurogane plopped down in his chair, “She’s never fun to work with.”

“You don’t think anyone is fun to work with,” Fai laughed and input the coordinates, “Let’s get to Clow before their night hits. We can spend the night there and meet Caldina tomorrow.”

“Fine. That’s in this system, right?”

“Yup, no jumps required.”

They manually took off and let the autopilot get them to the planet. It was second nature to them after the years they spent traveling together. They didn’t need to speak to each other, they didn’t need watch. Fai was sure they could do it blind if need be.

After they set off, he leaned back and rolled his neck, “Can you take the first watch? I need a shower.”

“Go ahead,” he grumbled and kicked his feet up to rest on the panel, “Get some sleep while you’re at it. I’ll wake you in 6 hours.”

Fai grinned, “Do it in four. We’ll be there in 6 and you should get a nap too.”

“I can sleep when we get there.”

“And let me go shopping in town alone? Could be a financial disaster.”

Kurogane side-eyed him, “Don’t… Just go to bed.” Kurogane sighed and sunk in his chair, “You’ll give me a headache.”

“Sorry,” Fai chuckled, “Just get me if you’re going to pass out.”

He turned heel and made his way to the showers. The ship hey used was the same military vessel Kurogane’s parents had used nearly a century before. It didn’t have luxuries like single showers or a master bedroom, but it was rare that more than 5 men were even on the vessel. Currently it was just the two of them.

Occasionally, survivors from Celes help him with the underground work, but it was rare. They were well hidden away from the universe and worked each day in fields and pastures. All of them, Fai included, lost their albino features. They became tan, by their standards, and had to be careful not to burn under their new planet’s sun. 

“Maybe that’s why Kurogane feels more comfortable around me,” Fai mused as he washed off the day. 

He was well aware of how the boy once looked at him. Fai’s people had only seen their star a handful of times in his life. It left them inhumanly pale, which was good considering they weren’t human. However, to a human child, that would be unnerving. 

It annoyed him for a long time. During the weeks Kurogane was in their castle, he and Yui would fight over the child. Fai thought he was just rude and callous. Yui always excused him because of his age. He always said the Kurogane would grow into a fine young man and a great warrior.

Yui had been right.

Now he and Kurogane were close as they could be. Remembering him as a child only made them both feel awkward. Fai wondered how they ever ended up like this, partners in crime just to help feed the Celesian refugees.

Fai turned off the water but stayed put while the steam dissipated. He had goose bumps before he finally stepped out, towel hanging loosely on his hips. He felt lucky to have his own room as he flopped on the bed and passed out.


	3. Chapter 3

Fai pulled his cloak tighter as he walked into the desert sun. His body was more used to sun rays now, but it was still very easy for him to burn. He was sweating already, but the uncomfortable heat was much better to endure. 

Kurogane and he looked out of place in the bright city, one wearing all black, the other covered from head to toe in a white cloak. The crowds made room for them but didn’t otherwise question their presence. 

The people of Clow managed to be neutral in nearly everything. This gave them relative safety in the universe. They traded but weren’t rich enough to be targeted by thieves or startup pirates. Similarly, their religion was framed around a powerful daemon, yet it was weak enough that most other rulers ignored Clow. 

The people didn’t know fear in the same way Celes had. They were friendly and kind because of their innocent past. The royal family did well in keeping them safe. That’s the very thing that kept the town bustling until nightfall. More importantly, it kept the folk generous and trusting towards Fai and Kurogane.

After shopping, Fai decided to stay in a rented room for the night. He would never admit it, but he loved a chance to relax in normal society. When he visited his people, Fai had to keep his royal demeanor. They didn’t deserve any less from their remaining leader. 

Staying in the ship wasn’t any better. He could be himself, but the ship was lonely regardless of Kurogane’s presence. The metal walls weren’t comforting, and the stakes were often too high to relax.

Clow’s homes were quaint and inviting. The owner they stayed with even ate dinner and entertained the two like they were family. What a strange place the desert city was. 

“That was nice,” Fai smiled as he got himself ready for bed.

“It was a change of pace,” Kurogane shrugged already lounging on his side, “Not too different from home.”

Fai sat on the bed and chuckled, “In Shirasaki we stay in a palace and are surrounded by servants or military. I don’t think Clow has a formal military, and no citizen has a team of maids.”

Kurogane shrugged again and swiped to the next page of his book, “Doesn’t feel much different to me.”

He rolled his eyes and settled in the bed, “I can’t change how you feel, but you’re weird.”

“You wish you change how I felt,” he mumbled.

Fai rolled over, “I used to, but I gave up years ago.”

“Really? You think I’ll believe that?”

“Well,” Fai grinned, “I don’t make you sleep in a separate bed anymore so that’s a plus.”

Kurogane shoved Fai’s face into the pillow and rolled over, “Go to sleep, job starts back up tomorrow.”

Fai hummed a settled in. As soon as he closed his eyes, he had them opened again. “Big puppy, did you hear that?”

Kurogane sat up, “Hear what?”

Fai slinked out of bed and peered out the window. It looked like a quiet night, but Fai had learned to never trust the illusion of peace. He used his daemon to scout the town, jumping from camera to camera, daemon to daemon, “I can’t tell much, but it’s eerily silent out there.”

Kurogane glanced out the other side of the window, “You sure you’re not just imagining it?”

Fai sighed, “I rarely am.”

Then Fai had a hit. He was looked out the eye of a small mechanical daemon boundling alongside a pair of children. It was too late for them to be out, but they just innocently walked the darkened streets. The creature stopped moving and glanced to the side. There was movement, too slight to be a citizen walking.

“Soldiers,” Fai murmured, “Palace guards? No…” 

Kurogane moved to get dressed. Even if this was a false alarm, he should be ready for an attack.

Fai cursed, “Invaders. Gotta be Reed’s men. They’re going to be all over the city by now.”  
He pulled his own daemon back and she whispered the number of life signatures she sensed. Around 8 about to attack those children. Were they important or just unfortunate victims? They were on the way to the ship but saving them from one attack won’t protect them from a full-on invasion. 

Fai got dressed quickly, “Let’s go. The quicker we’re off this planet, the safer we’ll be.”

“You planning on taking some of them down on the way?”

“Maybe.I think getting out without being seen would be best,” Fai grabbed his bag, “But we have a pit stop to make.”

“Yeah?” Kurogane opened the door to let Fai out.

“Some kids on the way are about to be attacked. Might already be,” They left building in a hurry, “It’s not in our best interest to help… but…”

Kurogane smirked, “I thought you hated kids.”

“I don’t want child,” Fai admitted, “The younger they are the more immature. You were nothing but a hothead with little control over your temper and sword.”

“So you’ve mention,” Kurogane grunted and followed Fai through the town.

“That doesn’t mean I won’t protect them. You’re still alive, right?”

He rolled his mechanical arm, “Mostly.”

Fai rolled his eyes and motioned for his partner to crouch down. The children were surrounded by now, the young boy trying to keep the girl behind him. Their daemon was shaking in the girl’s arms. Clearly it was not meant for combat or even protection. What is just a pet? He heard some made daemons as companions, but it felt like a waste to do so.

Kurogane watch Fai for the signal. They could easily take a small group like this, but he knew Reed rarely sent small groups out. If he wanted something, he took the whole planet. They hadn’t even begun the invasion yet.

They waited and the soldiers drew closer to the children. They threatened to kill the boy if he didn’t move. His stance tensed for a fight and one of the soldiers approached him.

Fai had to give the boy some credit. He kicked the soldier square in the chest and sent him skidding back past their hiding spot. 

Kurogane was quick to stab his forehead when he stopped. The other soldiers were too busy moving in to notice one man die. They had the boy out-numbered and in over his head. 

As he hit the ground, the sky lit up with enemy ships. Shots rained down on the town and lights popped on from houses. There was confusion, panic, and no one to stop a see who the real target was.

“There we go,” Fai’s eye lit up and pulled his ‘crown’ from its resting place inside his arm. It was nowhere near as powerful as the true Crown. But it served him well.

The girl was knocked out with some sort of gas before Fai could get to her. Soon after, he was upon to crew. He had two of them dead by his laser before they noticed his presence. Kurogane downed the others while Fai checked on the children.

“They’re fine, mostly. Knocked out cold, but otherwise uninjured.”

Kurogane returned his sword to his arm, “What are we going to do with them?”

Fai sat against the wall the think, “Everything’s going to shit here, but clearly Reed wanted the girl.”

“Did you put this bot to sleep?” Kurogane held up the daemon Fai had hacked before.

“No, one of them must have the controller for it. Turned it off when they passed out,” he explained, “Let’s take them with us. I don’t know if leaving with them will protect Clow, but at least we can keep Reed at bay for a bit.”

He picked up the girl and left Kurogane to take the boy and daemon. They made their way carefully to the ship. Once back, the children were put to bed.

“How are we going to get away from this? Last time we teleported away from his army.” Kurogane grumbled from his seat on the bridge. 

“We can only fly out. We won’t go unnoticed, but we don’t have a choice,” Fai pulled back his seat to lay down, “You pilot. I’ll do what I can.”

“Any less than a miracle and we’re dead,” he mumbled and took off. 

The first few seconds were simple. None of the ships had seen them yet. As soon as he went above the houses, Reed’s ships took notice. Enemy fire rained around the ship, jostling them here and there. Luckily, none hit them straight on.

Kurogane assumed that was Fai’s doing, but he wondered how much he could interfere while focusing on so many ships. He’d be stretched too thin again. In the back of his mind, he cursed Yui for his absence. The Crown could handle this task easily, or so he assumed. It’s what opened the portals to evacuate Celes all those years ago. At least it had until the palace had caved in on itself.

Kurogane dodged a flank to his right. They’d be out of the atmosphere before long, and the jump wasn’t too far beyond that. He hoped their ships were too small to withstand the jump. Otherwise they’d be chased through the universe.

“I hope you have a plan, Fai,” Kurogane said, focused on weaving through the torpedoes around him. He heard a faint mumble from the king, but nothing more. He hoped that was an affirmative mumble.

They approached the gate and some of their pursuers pulled back. A good sign. Kurogane shook Fai, “We’re at the jump.”

He didn’t respond, but Kurogane didn’t have the choice to stop. He plunged into jump. In a few seconds, they were on the other side.

Fai shocked awake, the connection between him and ships broken. He sat up and took heavy breaths. 

“I told you we were at the jump.”

Fai glared at him, “I was a bit busy messing their targeting systems. Turned off my ears.”

“I figured. Need to rest?”

Fai shook his head, “You took the last shift. Grab me some pain killers then sleep.”

Kurogane nodded once and threw his chair back, “Don’t crash my ship.”


	4. Chapter 4

Fai watch the monitors closely as the boy began to stir. After a groggy moment, he popped out of bed and searched the room. He woke the girl as soon as her found her bed. With their whispers passed, they exited the room cautiously. 

The boy new what he was doing. He led the girl as if he knew the blueprints of their ship. Fai mused about how he may actually have that memorized. Well, the type of ship at least. It wasn’t an uncommon setup, and the boy was steadily making his way to the cockpit. By the time he made it to Fai, he had procured a gun and held it with a degree of familiarity. 

“What exactly do you think you’re going to do with that?” Fai sighed, leaning back in the captain’s chair. He switched the monitors off of the camera feeds.

“Who are you?!” Syaoran growled and pointed the gun at him.

Fai didn’t bother turning around as he watch the stars outside, “Fai. And that’s Kurogane.”

Kurogane grabbed the gun from behind them and walked to his own chair. “I’m taking over. Going to Fahren, right?”

Fai nodded and stretched, “Alright kids. I’m making dinner. Any requests? I imagine you two are hungry after your near-death experience.”

Syaoran kept Sakura behind him, “Who do you work for?”

“No one at the moment,” Fai answered honestly, “We weren’t a part of the attack so you can relax a little.”

“Then why did you kidnap us?”

“Kidnap?” Fai grinned, “I don’t recall that part. I saw a couple of kids unconscious and about to be hauled off by invading soldiers. I don’t like them, and I certainly don’t enjoy watching children be killed or tortured, so we took you on our ship.”

Syaoran still wasn’t too sure, “What are you going to do with her?”

Fai paused on his walk to the kitchen and turned to them, “Her?” He looked closer at Sakura, “What are your names, children.”

Syaoran pulled Sakura away, “My name is Syaoran.”

Sakura finally spoke up, “I’m Sakura. Thank you for taking us in, we’d be lost without you.”

Syaoran looked panicked at Sakura’s blatant trust in the stranger but didn’t say anything more.

Fai recognized the relationship almost instantly but said nothing, “Well, Sakura and Syaoran, what do you want to eat. We don’t have all that much variety but I’m pretty good at faking it.”

Sakura sat at the table, “I’d like tea, if you have it.”

Syaoran sat close to her, “I’ll take a glass as well.” 

Fai set himself to work on their meal, setting the kettle on the stove. He checked their supplies on a display and pulled out a pouch of leaves to brew. It seemed like they would have enough to meet with Caldina.

“Soup sound good to eat?” Fai turned to watch them both nod silently, “Alright then. While that’s cooking, do you mind answering some questions for me?”

Syaoran spoke before Sakura could, “That depends on the question.”

Fai hummed in response and got the premade soup heating up, “Well, I’ll start off strong then. Why was the princess and her guard so far from the palace?”

They remained silent, Sakura glancing nervously at Syaoran. The boy kept his eyes level with Fai’s. There was something admirable in his strength, though it would not help him here.

“Too straight forward? Fine,” Fai shrugged and tried again, “Do you know who your attackers were?”

Syaoran hesitated, “I’m not sure, but I saw the bat symbol before… you found us.”

“Reed,” Fai sighed, “He’s nothing but trouble. Why were they invading?”

“I don’t know.”

Sakura tightened her hands on her pants, “I think they wanted Yukito.” She shook her head, “Ah! I mean the King’s High Priest! The angel chose him after all.”

Fai found her slip up adorable but focused on the latter of what she said. He remembered their religion focusing on an angel choosing the church’s next leader. He had always assumed the angel was a powerful daemon simply passed on like his own, “I think I understand then. Reed wants the most powerful tools he can find for who knows what reason.”

“He was after the angel,” she mumbled and hung her head.

“Yes,” Fai agreed, “A daemon like that would attract him, Princess.”

“She’s not-”

“I am Princess Sakura of Clow. We can’t hide that,” Sakura turned to Syaoran, “But He is not my guard or my servant. He’s just a friend and has nothing to do with the monarchy! Let him return to his home in Cizeta!”

Fai breathed out slowly, “All due respect Princess, but it looks like he doesn’t want to leave anyway. Now, for the last time, I did not and am not kidnapping you two.” He turned around sharply as the kettle whistled. He poured the tea and passed the glasses to the kids, “We are heading for Fahren right now. I can let you both off at Cizeta and I suggest you keep your head down. It’ll be safer that way.”

Sakura shook her head, “I have to get back to my home. My family might assume me captured and do something drastic!”

“If they’re alive, I’ll send them word of where I left you,” Fai promised and gave them each a bowl of soup.

Sakura bit her lip, trying hard to find a way to win this argument. Syaoran looked over to her and seemed to make a decision.

He turned his eyes back to Fai, “If it really is Reed, shouldn’t you want to go after him?”

Fai quirked his brow, “Why should I? He’s an emperor at this point and I have a ship with a single crewmember and 2 stray kids. Those aren’t good numbers.”

“He destroyed your home too! I’ve studied all kinds of history pertaining to Clow Reed, and your face is all over it. From the Crown to Celes’s destruction. Don’t you want to see his armies fall?”

“And what do you know about that history?”

Syaoran began like an encyclopedia, “Clow Reed’s ancestors created the daemons and spread them through the ancient world. They granted him extraordinary life and eventually gave him the ambition to conquer. He knew your people had the Crown and sought to take it by starting a war. Eventually he conquered your home, leaving a handful of survivors that have dispersed and disappeared. Your brother was among the dead, the Crown buried with him in a place yet to be found.”

Fai stayed silent for a moment, then laughed, “Syaoran, you do seem to know your history well, but not well enough. I have no need or want for revenge. On top of that I don’t want to catch Reed’s eye. There’s more important things to be done.”

Syaoran looked deflated, “What could possibly be more important than stopping him?”

“You know the history, look at the bigger picture,” Fai sipped his drink, “What would I be doing?”

The boy closed his eyes to think, “Reed wanted to take over because of the Crown, but it was never found. Do you really not have it?”

Fai nodded, “We’ve never even pretended to. We don’t know where the rumors came from, but the crown isn’t here. If Reed manages to get hold of it, we’re all doomed.”

“Then we need to find it!” Sakura decided.

“If it were that simple, we’d have already done that. We’re waiting,” Fai said, “We must wait for the time when we can fight-”

The children looked deflated. Fai knew they had a strong sense of justice, but neither had the experience to understand. Ragtag revolutions only worked in fiction. He had two armies behind him, between his remaining people and that of Shirasaki, but that wouldn’t be enough. Waiting was the only hope they had. 

“What exactly are you waiting for?” Sakura asked quietly.

“The crown.” Fai said flatly, “Without it, we lose.”

“Waiting for it to appear out of dust?”

“Of course not. We know it isn’t buried under the palace. I searched it high and low after my brother’s death. We know Reed doesn’t have it, or else he’d already own the universe. We’re waiting for any information we can use.”

Syaoran and Sakura looked at each other. They gave a nod and Sakura turn to Fai, “Let us help then. Clow had many allies. Any one of them may know something. If nothing else, my daemon has plenty of useful functions.”

“Like what?”

The PA system buzzed to life, “Come get your bunny before it damages the control board!”

Fai smirked as he heard the ‘bunny’ bounce around the bridge. He stood, “Can you take control of her from here? I’d rather not have to stop for repairs.”

Sakura shook her head, “I can’t take full control over Mokona, but she’ll calm down some when she knows I’m safe.”

They hurried back to the bridge. Mokona did bound to Sakura when they entered, but the daemon didn’t seem any calmer.

“Sakura! You’re okay! How did we end up with the strange man?” Mokona asked I Sakura’s arms, “Those meanies knocked you out. Are you feeling better now?”

Sakura smiled cheerfully, “I’m much better now. These two saved us from those soldiers.”

Mokona hopped from her hands to Fai’s, “I think it was just you! Mr. Black is too mean to help!”

Kurogane whipped his head around to glare as Fai laughed. He couldn’t help himself and laughed even harder when his partner began grumbling about daemons and how they were unholy creations. It was the belief of Shirasaki, but Kurogane had long ago separated himself from it. He hadn’t heard those words come from Kurogane since his teenage years.

“Well, Mokona, it’s good to meet you,” he shook the daemon’s small paw, “My name is Fai. Mr. Black over there is Kurogane. I promise he’s not a bad man.”

“Are you sure?” Mokona jumped into Kurogane’s lap. It was quite the jump for the small creature, and Fai found himself impressed. 

Kurogane glared at Mokona but tried to ignore her as best he could. His eye was twitching as she scampered around his body making soft humming sounds. Finally, he snapped, throwing Mokona back towards the kids, “Enough of that, I’m trying to fly!”

Mokona laughed in the air and landed on her feet in front of Sakura, “He’s mean! But he’s a good guy!”

Sakura picked Mokona up again and nuzzled her close, “Okay, Mokona, I trust your judgement.”

Fai sat down next to Kurogane and handed him a mug of soup, “Where are we?”

“Around Cefiro. Not too far away,” he grumbled back, “What are we doing with them?”

Fai glanced back. They kids were laughing with Mokona, but they still had an air of fear around them. “I don’t know. We could leave them in Cizeta, send word to the High Priest to pick them up.”

“You’re thinking of a different option?”

Fai sighed, “I don’t know. They’re passionate about stopping Reed, but what can they do? As far as I can tell Mokona is nothing special. Syaoran did a decent job one on one, but lost terribly when more joined in.”

Kurogane nodded, “He could be trained. He’s got a good base.”

“Oh yeah?” Fai smiled, “You sound like Yui.”

“Do I?”

“Yeah, specifically when he spoke about you.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means you may have just convinced me to give them a chance. Happy?”

Kurogane shrugged, “Could be a big help. Caldina never gives us an easy task.”

“And if they’re a hinderance?”

“Are you looking for reasons to ditch them or do you want an honest opinion?” It didn’t look like Fai was going to answer that one, “I think they have a right to try. If things turn south, we pull out and do it ourselves.”

Fai wanted to ask more. No matter how much time passed, he would never get used to making decisions on his own. However, Kurogane was not a king. He was not in charge on this ship. Fai was, and Fai made his choice.

“Fine. They can stay for a time. Can you train Syaoran?”

Kurogane nodded, “Enough for a small mission? Should be easy enough.”

“I’ll work with Sakura then. Mokona may have some useful tricks for us to use. Let’s hope Caldina gives us time to work with them.”


	5. Chapter 5

“And they’re how old?” Caldina had been railing them with questions since they arrived. She did not trust the children and she did not like them being involved with the underground.

“Fourteen,” Fai answered once more, “Do you have a job or not? We don’t have time to sit and chat.”

“I might not. I can’t say I trust your judgement at the moment… But you are the only ones who can handle this. You see, Seishirou stole-”

“No,” Kurogane said flatly.

“Hear me out,you big brute!” Caldina scoled, “Seishirou is long gone on business with the Sumeragi. While he’s away, I need to get a daemon called Ascot back. I did most of the leg work already, but you know I’m not one for gun fights.”

Fai shrugged, “It’s going to cost you.”

“It’s going to cost my employer,” she corrected, “Who is sorely missing his toy.”

“And this employer is?”

“Hm? Does it matter?”

“Not too much,” Fai admitted, “But your hesitance makes me wonder even more.”

Caldina rolled her eyes, “Zagato, again. One of these days I’ll figure out what he’s up to. Until then, money speaks louder. We got a deal?”

Kurogane glanced at Fai. Zagato always paid for a job well done. The man was rich, even if they couldn’t tell why. The only reason not to take it was a few systems away, causing trouble for someone else.

Fai eventually nodded, “We have a deal. You have the intel?”

Caldina tossed a disk to Kurogane, “Everything I could find is on that. I suggest you get this done quickly. I’m not sure how long Seishirou will be gone. His trips to visit the Sumeragi are either very short, or very long. Nothing really in between. If you survive, you know where to find me!”

“Who is Seishirou?” Syaoran asked as the returned to the ship.

“He’s bad news,” Fai sighed, “He runs the Sakurazukamori, a rather powerful organization of assassins. Honestly, there are rumors that he, alone, is the only assassin. Making him a very dangerous enemy.”

“And is he your enemy?” Sakura asked quietly.

“I wouldn’t say that, but we have butt heads on occasion. He certainly doesn’t like us.”

“Has no one seen any other of the Sakurazukamori? I think that would answer the rumors,” Syaoran deduced. 

Fai was finding his knowledge base to be extraordinary for his age. He was ultimately a very mature and intelligent child, making Fai like him all the more for it.

Kurogane grunted, “Of course people have, but it’s easy to contract a few mercenaries to fill out your ranks. Our profession isn’t all that rare.”

Fai nodded, “He has the money to get good ones too. I’m not sure I believe he’s alone, but he’s strong regardless. We should get in and get out before he knows what we’ve done. Even better if he never finds out.”

“I’m going to look at the disk. Kid, meet me in the mess hall in an hour for training.”

“Yes!” Syaoran called after Kurogane.

Fai whistled, “How is your training going? I noticed a few new bruises.”

Sakura started, “Bruises?! Are you alright?”

Syaoran grinned, “I’m great. I’ve learned a lot already!”

Fai chuckled, “Kurogane is a strict teacher, but he’s good. Now I have something to teach you as well. Follow me.”

He took the children to the bridge and sat them in the pilot seats, “Alright, I’m going to walk you through take off and landing. I don’t know if you’ll ever need to do this by yourselves, but it’s better to be safe than dead.”

“Do you think we’ll be able to do this today?” Sakura sounded worried.

“Maybe not today, but it’s not as hard as you’d think. Once we’re off the ground, autopilot will kick in. For now, I just want to focus on getting off the ground. I’ll run you through the motions until you’re comfortable. Next time we take off, you’ll be doing it.”

“Ok,” Syaoran said and took hold of the yoke, “What’s first?”

Fai took Syaoran’s hands off, “First, you have to open the exhaust vents, it’s the switch at the top left. For you, Sakura, it’s the top right. There are two dash boards so the ship can be piloted by one person in a pinch, but thing go smother if we have two.”

He explained the steps to take off and how to set the autopilot. They walked through the procedures until Syaoran had to meet with Kurogane. Fai felt good about their progress, and let Sakura go and watch the training session instead of practicing.

While the others were busy, Fai looked through the information Kurogane sent him from the disk. His daemon read and sorted it to make things easier. A plan began to form in his head. It would be difficult to keep their identity from Seishirou, but they could get the daemon out easily.

Fai woke up from his daze to find Kurogane back in his seat. He glanced over, “Morning.”

“Mm, how long was I out?”

“A few hours. The kids are making food right now.”

“Hours? I’m slowing down,” Fai sighed and sat up.

“Or you need to get that thing recalibrated.”

“Maybe… I haven’t worked on my eye in a long time. Oh!” Fai started, “Did you let them take off?”

“Yeah, they did good. Not too many mistakes.”

“That’s good. How long do we have until we reach the outpost?”

“A day or so, got any ideas?”

“Of course, you remember the underbelly?”

Kurogane grimaced, “Yes, yes I do.”

“Good, we can use it to escape.”

“What about getting in?”

“Fishing,” Fai mused.

“All four of us as the bait?”

“Me and you, unless the children insist. Say we're in a bind, Reed is right behind us, need Seishirou's help, willing to do anything. That sort of thing. Seishirou would never go for it.”

“But his hired help might,” Kurogane grinned, “Assuming they are hired and not the Sakurazukamori.”

“Well, some of the guards have to be expendable. We've taken out so many over the years, but they just keep coming. They're not all assassins.”

“Agreed,” Kurogane nodded, “And what are the kids gonna do?”

Fai glanced over at Kurogane. His partner wanted the children to be a part of this mission, danger or no. Was it because of his own revenge scheme?

“I want them to be here to take off immediately, but it looks like you don't agree?”

Kurogane nodded, “Syaoran needs real life experience more than anything else. He knows hand to hand combat, and his swordsmanship is already better than some of the more seasined recruits back home. If he's going to improve, it's gotta be in real combat.”

“And Sakura?”

“You've been learning about her daemon, what can it do?”

“It's storage, mostly. Has a basic jump in its mouth that leads to a storage room. It can get bigger and smaller to take out or put in items. Another daemon like it throws the items back out, or stocks them away. Nothing extraordinary, but could be useful,” Fai explained, “With her there, we could move Ascot to the storage room, and escape easier.”

“Then she should come,” Kurogane decided.

“And the risk of her getting killed or kidnapped? It would be a personal and political disaster.”

“She won't be. If things really go bad, then we'll throw her in the storage room too and grab her later.”

Fai smiled, “You have an answer for everything, don't you?”

Kurogane shrugged, “You have an argument for everything.” He flicked on the autopilot and turned to Fai, “You need to believe in them. You decided to keep them here and give them a chance. Believe in them and believe in your own decision.”

Fai closed his eyes, “It’s hard to. They’re just kids, and I’m just the second-choice king.”

“You are THE King. The only king Celes has so long as the Crown is AWOL.”

Fai sighed, “You say that, and yet I’m following your lead with these kids. We’ll brief them at dinner. If they both agree, then we have our plan.”

Kurogane turned back the stare out into space. Far off stars passed from his vision as they flew, “What are you going to do?”

Fai tilted his head in question.

“When the Crown resurfaces?”

“Relax for the first time in a hundred years, obviously,” Fai grinned.

A few minutes later, Sakura called them to eat over the PA. Kurogane left the ship on autopilot, and Fai set his daemon to alert him if anything went wrong. It was rare for neither of them to be at the helm. Something felt off to Fai, but he hadn’t really had a family meal in months. No Celesians had traveled with them for a long time.

The four of them sat around the table and passed the food around. Sakura had made a savory soup with bread as the bowls. He had no idea how she found the ingredients or the time, but it looked and smelled wonderful.

“Very nice, Sakura. How did you earn to cook?” Fai asked.

“The palace chefs taught me. I worked with many of the servants at home. They’re all very good people,” Sakura looked down at her dinner, worry etched into her face.

Fai frowned, “Well, I’m certain they are. I’m also certain they’re safe for now.”

Sakura nodded, “I hope so, but I can’t help but think they didn’t just want me. If they wanted the angel, then they’d go to the palace for sure.”

“I’ll send a message to them. Try and find out what happened. It will take time to hear back, though.”

“Thank you, Fai. I appreciate it,” Sakura smiled again.

Kurogane hummed, “No one should be kept in the dark when it comes to their family. We’ll figure out what happened.”

Syaoran nodded, “And we’ll catch the one responsible. I won’t give up on that. Reed’s caused enough damage.”

“Speaking of,” Kurogane said, “We need to talk about the mission. We have a plan, but only if you agree to it.”


	6. Chapter 6

Sakura and Syaoran looked very uncomfortable at the front gates of Seishirou’s compound. Fai thought it was either great acting, or a sign they were not ready for this. It wasfar too late to turn back, though.

“We need a deal,” Fai called out to the guards.

They eyed the crew from a distance. Eventually, one stepped up, “Who are you?!”

Fai decided to move forward, so they were merely a few feet apart, “Fai and Kurogane, plus two bargaining chips.”

The guards stiffened.

“Relax, we’re in bind and need to talk to Seishirou.”

“He’s not going to talk to you.”

“We’re offering these two,” Fai yanked the kids andpushed them to the guards, “Princess of Clow and her guard. Found them getting attacked by Reed’s men. Now, we’re being actively hunted.”

The guards paled and glanced at each other. They had no idea how to handle this situation, but clearly they knew Seishirou was interested in Reed’s activities.

“Alright, come in. But Seishirou can’t talk to you right now.”

“That’s fine, so long as we’re off the radar.”

They were led into a small room. Fai insisted the kids stayed with him until they were guaranteed s deal. It was obvious Seishirou wasn’t present, making Fai more confident in his plan. 

“Alright, Mokona. Your turn,” Fai relaxed into his chair.

Mokona saluted and hopped to the vent. Before long, they couldn’t hear her anymore. 

Fai closed his eyes and took minor control over the daemon. This time he had gotten permission, but he left Mokona with some faculties. All they needed to do was find Ascot and get out as quickly as possible. 

Things were going smoothly until Mokona came across something unexpected. Seishirou was in house, and he was with their target. On top of that, Ascot was no ordinary daemon. He was the size of a teenaged man and looked nearly human. This thing had to be powerful.

Fai cursed and pulled out of Mokona for the time being, “We’ve got an issue.”

Kurogane looked over from his spot against the wall, “What?”

Fai sent what he had scene to Kurogane’s holoscreen. He scowled and let the kids read off it, “This is going to be a shit show.”

Syaoran shifted in his seat, “I think… We can get Ascot out with him in there. We only have to worry about ourselves.”

Fai looked up, “What do you mean?”

Sakura took over quickly, “Mokona has super-secret techniques. That’s what she calls them anyway. If Sheishirou doesn’t know about Mokona being there, then she can easily… er… eat Ascot and head back to us.”

Fai nodded, “Alright, go ahead and do it.”

Sakura nodded and close her eyes to focus. 

Soon, the halls came to life with shouts. Fai stood up and listened carefully, trying to make out what they were saying. The news that Ascot had disappeared got around quickly.

Mokona bounced from the vent to Sakura, “I got him! Kero and Mokona is keeping him good company!”

Sakura smiled, “Good work, Moko-chan!”

Fai smiled, “Now, we go to the underbelly. You two can stay in Mokona, if you’d rather.”

The kids both shook their heads. Syaoran looked energized, “We’re staying here!”

Kurogane cracked the door. In the chaos, they were all but forgotten. He motioned to the crew to follow as he left the room. “The underbelly is completely unprotected. It’s just a trash heap, so no one goes down there. Getting there won’t be easy. As soon as Seishirou knows we’re here, he’ll know we’re responsible. That’s the hard part.”

Just was he finished talking, a shot flew in front of his face. Kurogane stumbled back and hid behind the corner, “And there it is.”

“Only one?” Fai smirked, “That’s not trouble.” His eye glowed and a small piece of his crown broke off under his sleeve. It flew around the corner at the attacker.

After a soft grunt, they moved around the corner safely. The crown piece floated by Fai but didn’t return to him.

Syaoran eyed it as they walked, “What is that?”

“A piece of my crown. The thing my daemon is stored in. It has some of the same functionalities of the real one, so it’s fairly useful,” Fai explained, “Ask more later.”

Syaoran looked a little disappointed but held his tongue. 

The group picked up the pace as more enemies tried to stop them. Kurogane and Fai did their best to merely injure them. It wasn’t something they had to do, but they both decided not to show the kids too many dead bodies if they could help it. 

They ran into a large room. Beyond it was the way down to the underbelly, and guarding that path was a large group of gangsters lead by Seishirou himself.

Fai grabbed Sakura and dove behind boxes just before the first volley of lasers flew passed. He looked over and Saw Kurogane had done the same with Syaoran. 

“That’s not very nice, hon! We’re guests, you know!” Fai called out.

The volleys ceased for a moment, “I don’t remember inviting you.”

“Get better men, then,” Fai suggested.

He heard Seishirou chuckle, “Give me back what I stole. That’s the only way you’re getting out of here.”

“You’ll have to make me very desperate for that to happen.”

“You know I can do that,” Seishirou threatened. 

Fai did know that. He had done it a week ago, and the same trick wouldn’t work twice. They needed a plan before they got trapped here. His daemon wouldn’t be able to take this on this many people, even with Kurogane and Syaoran’s help. In a few minutes he was almost desperate enough to give up and pray for leniency.

Sakura tugged on his shirt, “Fai… Mokona can help!” She looked over to Syaoran and they came to some sort of silent agreement.

Sakura laid back, “Don’t worry, we’ll be fine.”

Fai felt a strong signal come from her and Mokona bounded out, dodging shots from Seishirou’s men. She wouldn’t have needed to go comatose for such a small feat. Fai thought she would look a lot more like Syaoran, focused but awake.

Oh.

Fai smiled. He wondered how they managed to keep that to themselves for so long. Mokona was not Sakura’s at all. That did leave something unanswered, though. What was Sakura calling for?

Mokona’s jaw opened wide to reveal a small, plush looking creature. It didn’t look all that impressive until the skin broke. Its mechanics expanded and twisted until it looked like a large lion. This daemon was no joke and the men in front of it stood stock still in shock.

Fai took a moment to compose himself as the beast blasted fire from its mouth. Then, he picked Sakura up and used his own daemon to give them cover. He dashed forward for the door and slid into the hatch beside it. 

It wasn’t until he touched down in the soggy pit that he checked for Kurogane and Syaoran. They weren’t too far behind him, and Mokona came giggling after. 

“Kero got to have some fun!” she said and jumped to Syaoran, “He’s worried though! Is Sakura alright?”

Fai still had her in his arms, “Yes, she’s just fine. I think it would be best to let her sleep through this part. It’s foul down here.”

“Yeah, and I bet she’ll need plenty of rest after controlling both of those daemons like that. Never thought she would have it in her,” Kurogane whistled and pulled out cloths, “Here, you can keep out some of stench with this.”

Syaoran put it on quickly while Kurogane helped Fai with his. It would help some, but they all took shallow breaths to combat the odor. 

The walk out took far more time than he’d expected. His intel suggested it would take no more than a half hour to cross the underbelly but climbing through garbage piles with an unconscious girl on your back made things difficult. 

The exit was a jump that would take them near where they parked the ship. It would take Seishirou hours to get to it, just like it had taken the four of them hours to walk to his base. Fai knew this was the only time this exit would work. He hoped he would never have to come here again for any reason. Escaping the next time would be nearly impossible with or without Sakura’s powerful daemon.

Once back in the ship and well on their way, Fai tucked Sakura into her bed. She was snoozing soundly but would need to clean up when she awoke. He thought about bathing her now, his people didn’t so much have genders, but knew she might still feel awkward about it later.

“Syaoran, you get some rest too,” Fai said, “I’m sure Mokona’s antics have you drained.”

Syaoran bit his lip, “You figured it out?”

“Kurogane knows little about daemons. His people don’t use them due to the technology that destroyed their first planet,” Fai explained, “But my people are probably the most well versed in daemon usage that you will ever find. You can’t fully control two daemons at once. Still, you work very well together. Most wouldn’t think it was two separate minds at work.”

Syaoran sighed, “Thank you, but can you keep it quiet? In general, I mean. I know you’ll tell Kurogane. It’s a secret that she has Cerberus.”

Fai nodded, “The Cerberus that works opposite of Yue? That’s one of Clow Reed’s favorites. If I had to guess, Yue is the mysterious ‘Angel,’ right?”

“I can’t confirm or deny that,” Syaoran said firmly.

Fai smiled, “Alright. Yue disappeared when Clow did, so it’s reasonable to think they share a grave.”

The boy relaxed and laid himself down, “Thank you, Fai. You’ve done a lot for us.”

“Well, I did kidnap you after all.”

Syaoran smiled and Fai left the conversation fall.


	7. Chapter 7

“Kanpai!” the small group cheered. Fai had convinced Kurogane to let the kids drink after their successful heist.

After returning to Fahren for payment, they had fully restocked and were on the way to rest in Cefiro. It wasn't an entirely safe world, but they had the most rejuvenating spas in this system. Fai thought it would be a good change of pace before the real work started.

He had sent word to Clow regarding his passengers, but neither Sakura nor Syaoran were willing to return home yet. He had to admit having Syaoran and Sakura, and by extension Mokona and Cerberus, were the reason they made it out unharmed. Fai hadn't mentioned Syaoran's little secret yet but knew he would have to tell Kurogane soon. The man would be very angry otherwise.

Clow had sent a message back as well, letting them children know that city was still standing. Apparently, Reed’s men pulled out soon after Sakura went missing. Fai bet that Reed was after Cerberus and didn’t suspect Yue was still in the city.

“Good work, you two,” Fai smiled and sipped his wine.

Sakura took another swing of her fruity cocktail, “That was so much fun! Until we were almost caught... Ah! Did we pass? Can we stay?”  
Syaoran looked worried, “Princess, you should really slow down.”  
“I told you to call me Sakura, and I'm fine,” she turned back to Fai, “Are we going after Reed?”  
Fai shook his head, “No, not yet. However, your family now knows I have you here. I can't drop you off on a random planet and still call myself a king. So, you're stuck here until the King and Queen of Clow call you back.”

Syaoran tilted his head, “You were going to leave us in Cizeta at first. Why is it different now?”

“Before I could have lied and said I was just a mercenary and wasn’t interested in holding ransom. Now my title and people are on the line,” Fai admitted, smile not falling, “It's fairly easy to separate my side work from my duty.

Syaoran didn't look pleased with the answer, “At least we have a shot now. When will we look for Reed?”

“We told you already that we're waiting,” Kurogane said, “Your success doesn't change that.”

“We have three armies, including mine. Aren't we on equal footing?” Sakura asked, “The crown is important, but the lack of it is just as important.”

Kurogane shook his head “We wait for it because it's the most important thing in the world.”

Silence blanketed the table until Fai stood up, “Enough of that. We have some celebrating to do. You two just finished your first successful job! Any requests? If we have it then it’s yours.”

Sakura perked up, “Can we play music?”

“Music?” Fai asked, “We can play it over the PA.”

“No,” she shook her head, “I’d like to play something myself.”

“I don’t have any instruments here for you.”

Mokona hopped up on the table, “I do!”

The daemon opened his mouth wide and sent out a wide stringed instrument. It landed softly in the Princess’s lap. Fai still found it disconcerting the way Mokona’s jaw unhinged to take in or release items.

“How exactly do you do that?” Kurogane asked.

“I open my mouth! Silly Kurgy!”

Kurogane glared at Mokona but kept his mouth shut for the moment.

“Alright then, Sakura, go ahead,” Fai smiled and brought out some desserts.

Sakura smiled down at the instrument and plucked the strings. She tuned it quickly and started playing a random tune. The melody softened and Sakura began humming along. 

It was nice, but Fai was more impressed by her talent than the song itself. She had become absorbed in her craft. It was beautiful.

Even after she stopped, her audience was speechless. She smiled shyly and returned the instrument to Mokona, “Thank you. I know I’m not the best, but my mother is teaching me how to play.”

Fai shook his head, “Not at all, Sakura. That was very good.”

“You should hear Mother. She’s far better than me.”

“I would like to, one day,” Fai picked up a small pasty but stopped short as his left eye twitched. He sat up straight in his chair and kept his other eye shut tight. He heard the disjointed and quiet voice in his head.

The kids have never seen this before. They glanced back and forth between Fai and Kurogane, waiting for an explanation. Kurogane's expectant position made them both nervous.

Fai blinked as if he were coming out of sleep, “Chi... Chi sent news.”

Kurogane nodded slowly, “And?”

“It was her emergency beacon. We don't have time to lose,” he stood up and rushed from the room.

Kurogane was close behind him, “Come on. You need to be strapped in for this flight.”

“Who is Chi?” Sakura asked as she picked Mokona up.

“A friend. Her and her sister do recon for us. If she's in trouble... Things could go terribly wrong,” Kurogane explained.

Syaoran nodded and buckled himself in the chair, “So she's in trouble? Where?”

Fai was typing rapidly, “The old Fairy Park in the Edonis system.”

Sakura blinked, “Fairy Park? That's been abandoned by Outo for decades.”

“What better place to hide? No one ever goes there, even explorers. It's too dilapidated.”

“You thought Reed was using it?” Syaoran asked.

“And now we know,” Kurogane confirmed, “How fast can we get there?”

“If we're safe about it, a day. If not, a few hours," Fai said.

“Get ready, you two are going to man the ship while we're on the surface,” Kurogane said, “We don't have time to plan.”

Fai nodded his agreement, “We're charging the front door, so to speak.”

“You want us to stay behind?” Sakura looked down.

“No,” Fai said sternly, “We want you to man the ship. Keep people out and be ready to take off when we get back. You have to fly this thing.”

Kurogane glanced back. The kids looked unsure and scared. "Don't worry, we've shown you plenty of times how to take off. The coordinates will already be set up for you, so just do what we taught you."

“Okay,” Syaoran said first.

Sakura nodded, “We can do that. So, come back safe!”

Fai smiled to himself, “We will, without a doubt!”


	8. Chapter 8

Fai crouched behind a broken track. It had once been a roller coaster, but years of rust ruined the ride. Now it was a sad reminder of a society moved on. At least the wildlife was thriving.

He crawled close to the rails trying to find a way underground. Chi’s signal was coming from deeper in, but so far, he had found no signs of stairs or hatches.

“Kurogane? You find anything?”

“Nothing yet, no enemies or structures,” Kurogane’s voice sounded fainter than normal, the signal crackling in his ear.

“Are you hearing that interference? Could be a device on the inside.”

“I’ll keep scanning the ground, but if there’s interference I won’t e able to get much.”

Fai assumed they knew he was here the moment they touched down. Or perhaps it was always dead quiet on the surface. Fai merely prayed the emergency beacon hadn't been left behind, as hard as that would be to do.

He leaned against another beam and checked his surroundings. Through his shirt, he noticed a certain heat coming off it.

“Hey, I think I found something,” he whispered to Kurogane.

“Oh yeah? A way in?”

“Sending you my coordinates. The beam is warm, might be from the friction of movement. Had to have been recent for it to be this noticeable...”

By the time Kurogane reached him, he had done some investigation.

“The heat is coming from water inside the beam. It's the back end of a hydraulics system hidden if the ruins. I think we'll find a door if we follow it,” Fai explained.

Kurogane nodded, “Your eye told you all that?”

Fai smiled, “She rather useful, no?”

“Still don't want one,” Kurogane grumbled, “Lead the way.”

Fai did so, using his daemon to make sure they'd see a hidden switch if there was one to be found. They located it in the station of another ride. It was crafty, and fingerprint operated. Fai knew they couldn't get it open by just pressing, and only the Crown would easily handle this complex of code to hack it. Reed was a very smart man indeed.

Kurogane watched for enemies as Fai tried to vet them in undetected. It was one thing if Reed knew they were on the surface, and another if he knew they had made it in.

He glanced back at Fai to see his eye glowing lightly and twitching. The look on his face said this was not his doing.

“Fai?”

Fai held up his finger to the button and pushed down. They both held their breath, but the floor opened between them with no alarms going off.

Kurogane looked up, “Yours can't rework your fingerprint.”

“No,” Fai grinned, “It can't.”

They wasted no time discussing what had happened. The halls underground were long and well lit. While they managed to get in easily, sirens flared to life as they ran. Fai followed his guide without thought, knowing exaclty where he needed to go.

“You're going to hang a right, then follow the instructions on your arm! Distract as many as you can and get out. We'll be right behind you!”

Kurogane nodded and split off. The instructions rolled onto the holoscreen letting him know his mission was to grab the eye if possible, but mostly to get everyone to follow him. He didn't have time to wonder why the eye was secondary at this point. Guards turned the corner behind him, leaving him to trust in his guide to survive.

The guards swarmed around another corner. Instinctually, Kurogane form his sword and took out some of the ones in front of him with one swing. He didn’t think about fighting them all. He wanted to keep them coming at him, not scare them away.

He pounced over the fallen enemies and kept running. Kurogane watched for new instructions on his arm. They told him that the eye wasn’t reachable at this point and to ignore it. He turned another corner and blocked a shot with is sword. Kurogane was certain Chi was in control of his arm at this point and mentally reminded himself to chastise her later.

He found a place to rest for a moment and read the text steadily incoming on his arm. Kurogane nearly stopped breathing. Mentally, he scratched out the note to chastise her and replaced it with one of gratitude. These people were monsters, and he felt anger replace his worry.

He took off again with a new fervor. This time, there was no stopping until he was face to face with the compound’s leader, named Xing Huo. She didn’t look evil, just emotionless. Kurogane didn’t care what she was, mainly because she wasn’t going to be it for long. 

Xing Huo let loose a flurry of shots when Kurogaen dashed towards her. That wasn’t enough to stop him, though. He ran her through mercilessly.

“In the next life, pick a better master,” he whispered to the dying woman and pulled his blade out. Kurogane felt pain blossom in his own body from the two lasers that had hit him, but neither would kill him today. He continued on, distracting as many guards and scientists as he could.

Fai slipped into an empty room as more guards ran towards Kurogane. The fact that this was working meant Reed wasn't here. There were a couple options on who he'd left to watch this facility, but Fai bet it was Xing Huo. Her specialty was science, according to updates by Chi, and he was surrounded by medical storage.

After the noise outside died down, he followed his guide through the maze of hallways and stairs. Fai ignored the signs of mad science he passed and prayed their target was still alive. This was clearly a place of torture more than anything else.

He was led to a dark hallway lined with see-through walls. They weren’t unlike the fields Celes used to use on the frozen planet, but he could tell they were not to be passed through. He walked quietly down to the end and flipped the switches at the end; one to turn on the lights, one to disarm the fields, and one to lower them completely.

Fai turned to the left and looked down at the sole prisoner, “Yui, are you alive?”

The thin body raised its head slowly, “You’re hear earlier than I thought.”

Fai squat in front of his brother to examine him, “They take your eye?”

Yui nodded and croaked, “But I still have her…the controller is still here.” He touched his forearm.

Fai knew what he meant. The crown, and the part that usually rests in his fake eye, was stored inside his arm. The hole was covered by Chiho, the renamed daemon known as Freya. It was the same way Fai’s was stored. “Good,” he helped Yui stand, “Let’s get out of here before we’re both locked away.”

It was slow getting out of the facility. Fai let Chiho lead him through to the outside, avoiding guards and Xing Huo herself at one point. They seemed to be distracted by Kurogane’s antics more than anything else. He wondered what Chiho was doing to keep them under the radar.

They made it to the surface without much trouble. They got back to the ship, but Yui insisted on waiting outside, “I won’t go in until he’s back. I know what you might pull, Brother.”

Fai glared, “Your safety is far more important, and you’re dying! We need to get my eye in you to stop the deterioration!” 

“I will be fine. I planned for you to come a few days from now, after I was unconscious.”

“No wonder Chiho got us early, you’re playing with fire.”

“I know what I can handle…” Yui looked up and his eyes widened. Someone was coming towards them. 

He stumbled into Kurogane as soon as he came close. “Kuro-rin,” Yui spoke weakly, “I missed you.”

“What happened to you,” Kurogane lifted the waif into his arms, “Your eye…”

Fai opened the hatch, “It’s fine, he has the controller. We just need to give him my eye, and quickly. Get him to bed.”

A single nod and he was walking into the ship.

The children rushed down the ladder to meet them. Syaoran was down first and caught Sakura when she jumped to get down faster.

“Did you find her? What was the emergency-” Sakura covered her mouth when she saw Yui, “Fai?!”

Fai stepped in front and ushered the kids out of the way, “Let them pass, I’ll explain as much as I can.”

Kurogane rushed past the children and turned towards his room.

“Daemons,” Syaoran whispered, “Chi is your daemon.”

Sakura looked back and forth between Syaoran and Yui, “A daemon? We thought she was a person.”

“I need 20 minutes,” Fai started, “Then I’ll explain in full. For now, Chiho is a daemon owed by my brother Yui. We communicate through his Chiho and my Chise. When I said I had gotten a beacon from Chi, that’s what I was referring too. I need to get in there and do a quick surgery. Wait here.”

With that, Fai was gone. 

Syaoran glanced at Sakura other warily, “His brother? I thought he had… passed away.”

Sakura nodded slowly, “History says he was crushed while letting his people escape. The crown was never found afterwards.”

“That’s a good way to assure it’s never found,” Syaoran looked back at the closed door, “Make the world think it’s under rubble or destroyed.”

Fai came out of the room a while after with an eyepatch and took them to the dining table, “Water? Tea?”

Syaoran shook his head while Fai pour a glass of whiskey for himself.

“I’d like tea,” Sakura said and sat at her normal spot.

Fai set the drink in front of her and sat down, “So, what’s your first question?”

“What was Yui doing?” Syaoran leaned on the table.

Fai quirked his brow, “Not ‘why is he alive?’ or ‘why didn’t you tell me?’”

He shook his head, “Being dead is a sure way to keep people from looking for you. Plus, we were outsiders.”

“Were?”

“Can you actually still call us outsiders at this point?”

“No. You’re a part of this whether you want or not,” Fai took a sip of his drink, “He was keeping tabs on Reed’s army for us when we lost contact. His goal was to track down Reed’s underlings. Particularly Kyle.”

“I thought you didn’t want revenge?” Sakura asked.

“We don’t. Not really. But Yui is still a king. He has people to protect that are in danger as long as Reed continues. Any information helps us do that.”

“And your mercenary work?”

Fai shrugged, “It helps with money and gives us underground access. People know who I am, and it makes sense that this is the work I can find. Rumors are going to spread like wildfire now. Even our people believed Yui to be dead and the crown lost.”

Fai stood, having made his decision, “We’re going to Shirasaki once we shake off our tails. The people need to see their King.”

Hours later, Yui began to stir in his bed. Kurogane had stayed by him, even as Fai bandaged his own wounds. Fai had said they were both fools for risking their health like this, but he had called them that for many more reasons over the years. Most of the time he had been right.

“Welcome back to the living,” Kurogane grumbled.

Yui had barely opened his eyes when he heard the comment, “Living? Because I survived or because the world knows I survived?”

Kurogane shrugged, “Which ever.” He leaned forward in his chair and played with a strand of Yui’s hair.

Yui smiled softly and sat up, “I missed you most. Don’t tell Fai that.”

He smiled despite worry, “I think he knows.” 

Yui watched his smile fall and frowned himself, “What? Did something happen?”

“No. Just tell me why you stopped checking in. The first thing we hear in months is that you’re half dead.”

Yui shook his head, “I was caught-”

“No, you stopped sending reports long before you got caught. Otherwise you would have been dead by now.”

Yui was silent for a long time, staring down at his lap. Finally, he met Kurogane’s eyes, “I won’t apologize. I knew I would scare you, but I had to cut ties.”

“And if you did die? We would have never known what happened.”

Yui nodded, “Kurogane, I’m a king. I know that’s not what you see in me, but sometimes I have to give up on the important things to do the vital.”

Kurogane didn’t have a response. It didn’t sound like Yui was going to say what he was doing. At this point he figured he would never understand. He was a leader, but he was not a king. Not by a long shot.

He cupped Yui’s cheek, “I don’t understand you.”

Yui smiled and leaned into the touch, “I know. I haven’t made it easy for you all these years.”

Kurogane snorted, “That’s one way to put it. What are we going to do now?”

Yui hummed, “Go home. It’s time I see my people.”

“Fai already set us on course for Shirasaki.”

Yui hummed his approval, “I hope they forgive my absence. They’ve spent 100 years believing I was crushed to dust.”

Kurogane grunted, “It’ll be fine. You’re their leader, one that they need. It’s only a matter of time before your people are found and an assault breaks out.”

“I know. This isn’t going to be easy. Celesians are trained for war, but we’ve spent so many millennia avoiding conflict. Their inexperience could kill us all.”

“You doubt my training?”

“Of course not, but can you honestly say you were prepared for your first real fight. It took you time to adjust to sparring with me. When you started working with Fai you nearly died on a regular basis.”

Kurogane rolled his eyes and ignored the small part of him that felt embarrassed, “I’m still here, and your military is not fighting alone.”

“That worries me too. Shirasaki is holding to a treaty made long before the Empress was born.”

“You think she’ll pull back?” 

Yui shook his head quickly, “I have no doubts she’ll hold to her word! That’s what I fear. Her people, your people, fighting and dying for a cause none of them remember. You’re the only human that was alive when the alliance was forged. How can I asked them to do that for us?”

Kurogane relaxed, “You’re the only one worried about that. We all have a duty. You to your kin, my soldiers to their empress, mine to you. We follow our duty no matter where it leads us.”

Yui was silent, staring at his hands. His thoughts swirl with questions. Could he risk two civilizations to fight an emperor? 

He took a breath and looked up again, “Ok, no more indecision. We’re going to defeat him, no matter the cost.”

Kurogane nodded, “Good. It’s about damn time.”

Yui chuckled, “Ah, how did you manage to escape?”

He shrugged, “Most of the people there weren’t cut out for combat. I didn’t have to kill all that many, stopping them was easy enough.”

Yui’s eye glowed for a moment, “And Xing Huo?”

“If you were just going to ask the daemon you shouldn’t have asked me,” Kurogane grumbled.

“Hm? Oh,” Yui blushed, “I, um, I didn’t mean to.”

“I know. She’s part of you or something, right?”

Yui nodded.

“Xing Huo is dead. Not much to say about it. She tried to shoot me and succeeded in stabbing her.”

“Tomoyo won’t be too happy,” Yui sighed, “But I know Chiho told you what happened. She always does that.”

“That’s what you get when your daemon has a mind of its own. She doesn’t let you be an idiot.”

Yui laughed and shook his head, “I still am an idiot, but she helps smooth out the consequences.” He sighed, “Still… Xing Huo was just another puppet. Her death means that some of the information she compiled is lost.”

“Good, since he already knows you’re both alive. The secrets we have can only help us.”

“I agree, how long until we reach Shirasaki?”

“Three days. I’m going to get you broth, think you can keep down anything else?”

Yui shook his head, “Am I really that thin?”

Kurogane nodded, “They didn’t feed you for two weeks. You need to put on some weight.”

He walked back over to the bed and gave Yui a quick kiss and then left for the kitchen.

Yui blushed solidly and covered his face. 100 years and he still felt like a teenager in love. He slid down on the bed and tried to imagine a day Kurogane wouldn’t make him so frazzled.


	9. Chapter 9

Fai had called his people, along with the Shirasaki military, together for an announcement. It was a rare thing for him to do but the people looked ready for anything. Mostly they looked ready for war with all the tension in the air. News of the attack on Clow had them riled even before Fai had returned a few days prior.

He looked over them now and took a deep breath, “We’re at the edge of our first war, but we’re not alone. Shirasaki has offered its aide to us once again, and Clow has agreed to back us in our struggle as well. I know you’ve trained for this moment, and I know you are all ready to fight the man that stole our home, and our loved ones.”

Fai paused and let the words sink deeper into his people’s minds. “We have more information that will give us a single advantage against Fei Wang Reed. The Crown,” another pause, “Is ours again!”

Gasps echoed through the crowd, followed by tears and cries of relief. They had nearly given up hope on finding their precious daemon. Fai nodded and quieted the crowd, “I apologize to all of you, for I have lied for nearly 100 years. It was necessary to gather priceless information and to keep Reed’s men at bay. What I have done has caused you all great pains, but no more. Today, nothing is hidden. Today, I give you hope and healing. Today, I give you back the King. My Brother!”

Yui walked next to Fai during the crowds’ silence. He pulled down his hood and replaced his brother on the podium.

Kurogane thought the theatrics were over doing it, but the fear in Yui’s eyes told him they were more to give him time to collect himself. The crowd remained hushed and Yui didn’t say a word.

It started with one man near the front, falling to his knee. He kissed the side of his hand, pulled it to his forehead, and held it towards Yui. It was a mimic gesture to the one Kurogane had done when he was a child, and later when he knew what it meant. 

The crowd acted as a wave, showing their loyalty and dedication. Yui looked like he was about to cry but held it back so his people would see only his strength.

Kurogane smiled from his place next to his soldiers. He knew Yui would never had expected this. The king expected questions, anger, even mutiny. This was the last thing on Yui’s mind. Kurogane watched as Yui the man disappeared and Yui the King took his place.

Yui stood with his back straight and eyes clear, “Stand.” 

The crowd did so without a second thought. This was the Yui they knew, back from the dead.

Kurogane, on the other hand, was floored by his sudden commanding nature. This was a version of Yui he was unaware of. As a child, he knew Yui as a great fighter but a flippant king. In adulthood, he knew Yui as a giving lover and an amazing spy. However, this was entirely new. With one word, his people were completely enraptured.

“Shirasaki, I thank your patience and accommodations for my people. In their greatest need, you did what I could not. For that, I am indebted to you,” Yui swept his eyes over the Shirasaki people on the edges of the crowd before moving to his own people, “Celesians, I pray your forgiveness, although I know I have already received it. The times here have been bleak for us all, but the dawn is here. 

“Reed would have us believe that he can do anything and be anywhere. He has plotted for far longer than even we could guess. He has overthrown governments, destroyed cultures, and move steadily to domination. We don’t have the time to for pretty words of inspiration, or to damn our enemies more than this. You know what he has done. You feel the pains deep in your hearts. 

“For far too long he has been to instigator. Never again. I know where he hides. This is not another compound for his allies. This is not an abandoned hideout that he will crawl out of. We’ve tried those before, but I am not talking about them. I know where he is. I know where he falls back to. We’re not going to chase him away; we’re going to his home to make him fall. In two weeks’ time he will be on his knees begging for a mercy that we will not show!”

The crowd erupted in cheers and angry shouts. They were behind him and ready for the attack. Nothing else mattered to these people anymore. They were finally taking back their own lives.

Yui quieted them down once more, “Prepare for war, all of you. Captains, meet with us in the castle to lay out our strategy. The rest, you know what to do.”

With that, the makeshift stage was emptied nearly as quickly as the field was. Kurogane gave orders to the different groups and set them all working to prepare weapons and rations. Both armies worked like machines and Kurogane was able to join the war briefing faster than he thought.

Kurogane met Yui in their room after finishing their battle plan. Yui had been absent after his speech, leaving Fai in charge of tactics. They both had their strengths and played to them well. Kurogane often thought about how long it took them to learn how to synchronize so well. Maybe years, maybe they were born doing it.

Kurogane came up behind his lover, “I’ve never seen you quite like that.”

Yui smiled as he felt Kurogane’s arms around him, “I haven’t been a king in a very long time. When you were a child, all you saw was a whimsical sparring partner. After that I was a spy and a mercenary. It feels strange to be back in this role.”

“I liked it,” Kurogane mumbled, “Never imagined you to be so serious, but it was cool.”

Yui snorted trying to hold back his laughter, “‘Cool?’ That’s the word you choose? What is that supposed to mean?”

Kurogane growled lightly, “It’s human slang. It means… good. Kind of.”

“It’s a compliment then. I wonder how a temperature turned into a compliment,” Yui nodded and settled more into Kurogane’s chest.

“Yui,” Kurogane whispered, “You were more than cool. You were hot.”

Yui turned around and looked up, “Hot? I know that one. Sexy, right?”

Kurogane nodded and kissed his forehead.

Yui just smiled, “Want me to order you around some?”

He laughed despite himself, “No, I just want you.”

“Here?” Yui grinned, “That’s a bit inappropriate, don’t you think?”

Kurogane eyed him, “It’s our room.”

“In the Princess’s house. This is your place of work, right?”

He rolled his eyes and picked Yui up, “There are around 50 workers living in the palace. Do you know how many children are conceived in a year?”

Yui laughed and kissed Kurogane’s forehead, “It’s fascinating how your females carry their young.”

“Trust me, you laying eggs like a chicken is weirder.”

Yui sighed playfully, “I didn’t say ‘weird,’ but I already knew what you thought of me.”

Kurogane set him on the bed, “And what, exactly, do I think of you?”

“I’m your weird trophy, right?” Yui smiled, “You get to show me off to all your human buddies.”

He laughed harder than he had in a long time, “Sure, that’s what I’ve been waiting to do for the last century. Show off my alien king to the troops.”

“You played the long game, I know,” Yui purred, “Just feel lucky that I want to be with you, too.”

“Good, because I’m not letting you out of my sight tonight.”


	10. Chapter 10

Yui was looking much healthier by the time their army set off. He had told them much of what he learned from his stay with Xing Huo. They had thought he was Fai and didn’t bother to look for the crown on him. However, Chiho had gathered an incredible amount of data on Reed and his army. 

Syaoran poured over it again as they flew, “The Moon Castle… The Shara Historica named that place as a holy site for both the followers of Ashura and Yasha. Their armies battled there in order to obtain a wish. When Ashura won, the weight of the wish caused the castle itself to fall to ruin. Both Ashura and Yasha perished that day.”

Fai and Syaoran had explained Mokona’s abilities in full during their planning. Mokona was mainly a storage device, for both physical items and memories. Syaoran used him far more for studying than anything else. The storage room also housed Cerberus, Kero, for Sakura to use. The storage room was in a shop that Syaoran had grown up in with his brother. They both used a daemon named ‘Mokona,’ but his brother’s stayed at the shop to help maintain the shop and get items to Syaoran when necessary.

Kurogane grunted, “Seems like a fitting place to end this.”

Yui stood by Kurogane, “Indeed, I think he may have chosen it for this very purpose. Clow himself was a poetic man. I assume Fei Wang takes after him in that respect.”

Fai nodded, “They are closely related, but I still wonder how he’s stayed alive for so long.”

Kurogane quirked his brow, “Aren’t you just as old?”

Yui look horrified, “Oh frosts, no! We’re barely over 400. Clow was alive before humans left Earth, almost 3000 years ago.”

Kurogane blinked, “We’re fighting an immortal?”

Fai shook his head, “No, he can die. Clow died of old age and he’s revered as the smartest creature to have ever lived. If he couldn’t figure out life eternal, Fei Wang certainly didn’t.”

“There are only two people alive from that time,” Yui continued, “Fei Wang, and a woman who goes by Yuuko. They’re both quite the enigma.”

Syaoran perked up, “Yuuko knew Clow Reed?”

“Yes, she never told you? I’d imagine it would’ve come up in your upbringing.”

“No, she- wait. How did you she raised me?”

Yui smiled, “I keep in contact with her. Either way, I know how we can kill him. You all will have to trust me in this.”

Kurogane didn’t like having more secrets to worry about, but he agreed, “And you’ll trust us to take care of that army.”

“Yes! I should be able to help with that as well,” Yui looked over the table at everyone and pulled up a picture, “If any of you see Kyle Rondart on the field, let me know immediately. He’s more of a danger than anyone else you’ll see. More importantly, I have a favor to return to him.”

They all agreed and began briefing their plan in detail.

Fai listed their tasks, “Phase one, battle army with army. Try to pull out as many of their forces as possible and destroy them. Theirs a good chance many of them will have powerful daemons. If seen, the soldiers will let Yui, Kurogane, or I know to deal with them. Phase two, Syaoran and Sakura join us to storm the castle. Hopefully, his forces inside will be light thanks to the battle outside. We get past them and find Reed. Phase three, take him out.”

Yui faked a whistle, “Sounds easy to me.”

Kurogane rolled his eyes, “This is going to be the most difficult undertaking any of us will ever do.”

Yui grinned, “Phase four, be prepared for miracles.”

Fai and Kuroganeboth narrowed their eyes on Yui but didn’t ask further. They all knew Yui would say something if he could. 

Yui continued, “Syaoran, Sakura, you’re going to stay on the ship for the worst of it. When we go to the castle ruins itself, I’ll create a jump for you. Come prepared with Mokona and Kero.”

They nodded.

“If we’re all on the same page,” Kurogane started, “Then let’s get some sleep. We’ll be in a battle the moment we get near the moon.”

The separated to their rooms for the night but an uneasy air hung throughout the ship. Kurogane seemed to be in a foul mood because of it, and Yui couldn’t figure out why.

“Kuro-rin, are you ok?”

Kurogane huffed as he fell on their bed, “No.”

“Want to tell me why?”

“We’re about to go to war, idiot,” Kurogane rolled away from him.

Yui flopped over Kurogane to force them to lock eyes, “That’s not all of it. I know you better than that.”

Kurogane sighed, “This is my parents ship. It doesn’t even have weapons. It’s for politics, not war. Yet I volunteered it to lead the charge.”

Yui pulled himself off of Kurogane and laid next to him, “Your father left it to you after he passed. Anything you do with it won’t damage their memory.”

“I know,” he grumbled, “I still don’t want it destroyed, even if the likelihood of that is low.”

“You always talk about them as if they died in the rubble with me,” Yui chuckled, “They lived long lives and passed happily in their home.”

“Yeah, and I left them behind,” Kurogane had Yui in a tight hold.

“They accepted your choices and accepted me and my brother to their family. Your home became ours. Your mother even left me her garden in her will.”

“Why do I feel like this conversation his normally switched around?”

“Because it normally is. You don’t have these insecurities normally.”

Kurogane sighed, “Ok, I get it. I have nothing to worry about.”

“I didn’t say that,” Yui smiled up at him, “We’ll worry together, and make things better for each other. We never have to live a part again.”

Something about that did make Kurogane feel better, “I think I like that.”

Yui laughed, “Good, because… what was it? ‘I’m not taking my eyes off you?’”

“Yeah,” Kurogane smiled, “That was it.”

“That’s our future from now on. Even in battle, we won’t be alone. And after we’ll visit your parents and thank them for their blessings.”

“Promise?”

“Of course,” Fai linked pinkies with his lover, “I promise.”


	11. Chapter 11

The battle broke when the first ship cleared the jump. Kurogane maneuvered it away from any fatal damage, but only barely. Reed knew they were coming, but that was suspected from the beginning.

Kurogane let Syaoran took over flying. He wasn’t a professional yet, but the other ships would soon distract the enemy.

Yui created his jump and the three of them entered the battlefield. It was already chaos. Allies and enemies fought around them, but Yui was looking for only one person.

It wasn’t long before he was told of Kyle’s whereabouts. Yui made his way to the area, blasting anyone who tried to attack him, Fai, or Kurogane. There was no more messing around for him. This was the end.

“Cover me while I take care of Kyle,” he ordered Fai and Kurogane.

They obliged and took down enemies around them as well as they could.

“Kyle, I have what you’re looking for.”

Kyle whipped around and smiled, “You’re alive? And you’ve brought the Crown to me. Perfect.”

Yui’s eyes were far different from what Kurogane had ever seen before. Thinking back, he had never even seen him use Chise before. Not for fighting at least. What was he capable of?

Kyle obviously didn’t understand the danger he was in. He came close like he wouldn’t need to attack, “You can act as tough as you’d like, but your people fell with a whisper and I know you’re no different. The thing about a peaceful nation is that they never learn to fight. They can never win the battle.”

Yui stood unmoving and glared, “You assume much and know so little. You don’t have the power to stop me, no one does.”

Kyle hesitated, “If you could do anything with it you would have used it when we invaded Celes. I’m not afraid of you!”

Yui’s eye glowed and the crown spilt into pieces. Tendrils flowed from it and reached towards Kyle. They moved like their master, confident and calm. There was no rushing or panic in Fai’s movements. He had done this all before, too many years devoted to his practice.

Kurogane felt the tension in the air and those around him paused to watch what was about to happen. He thought for a moment he would need to dive in to protect Yui, but no one was going to attack him. He commanded attention like no other.

Kyle continued to charge towards him, naïve and unafraid. He smacked the first tendril out of the way, but it easily went around his hand and into his head.

Yui took a step forward when Kyle screamed. He was on the ground twitching with only one tendril attached. The others soaked into his scalp and stopped his protests altogether. Yui stood menacingly over the terrified minion.

“Tell me where Reed is waiting,” he glared.

Kyle didn’t respond at first. Kurogane made his way over to Yui. He wondered briefly if their captee could speak with Yui’s power over him.

Finally, Kyle answered, “Deep down.”

Fai glanced at Yui who just stared at Kyle, “He’s truthful, however I know something very important.”

Kyle’s eyes sparked with fear before they dulled entirely. Kurogane had no idea what killed him, but in an instant he was dead. He didn’t need to check vitals to know.

Yui’s crown retreated but his eye continued to glow. He turned to Kurogane and his expression lightened, “Look around.”

Kurogane turned around and saw many of the soldiers he was fighting collapsed. The remaining soldiers were terrified and backed away from them. He turned back, “What did you do?” 

Yui looked at the sky, making pieces of the Crown form a huge circle in the sky, “I killed the one controlling them.”

Fai explained further, “They were… robots. Sort of. I hesitate to call them daemons. They had to be more rudimentary for one man to control so many, but they weren’t living.”

Yui opened the portal for the kids to come through, “I confirmed this while I was captured.”

Syaoran jumped through first, standing to catch Sakura afterwards.

“Let’s go, Reed is waiting for us,” Yui said, “He’s waiting deep within the ruins. I saw the room through Kyle’s mind.”

He circled the crown and created another jump in font of him, “The soldier can handle whatever’s left inside. Reed is our only concern.”

They stepped through the jump to find the man sitting high above them.

“So, you’ve finally come,” he spoke, “I’d begun to believe you had died.”

“I nearly did,” Yui admitted, “I wonder what you would have done if that attack succeeded.”

“I suppose exactly what I’ve done. And now you’ve brought me exactly what I needed. Elda, Freya, Cerberus. You may as well have brought Yue and Soel to finish my collection.”

“Enough of this,” Yui growled, “Your master is gone, and your army has fled.”

Reed stood, “You don’t know what I am capable of.”

Yui turned to Sakura and Syaoran, “Unleash your daemons.”

They did so but had the wretched away by Yui. They attacked in unison with the Crown. He alone beat back Fei wang. He was against the wall defending from Yui’s seemingly easy attacks.

Kurogane knew the strain in his eyes, the way his body tightened with the stress. He came next to Yui, “I’m going in.”

Yui gave him a look, but nodded, “He’s not real. If you kill him, kill him like a machine.”

That was news to Kurogane, but it made sense. All this time, they were searching for any way to kill Fei wang. If he as a daemon, then they would need to destroy the controller.

“Where?”

Yui gave a laugh, “Same as you.”

Kurogane smirked. It was rare, but Kurogane knew how to strike. He dashed forward and worked with the daemons to find an opening. Reed took special care to avoid his sword but sacrificed his arm to Kero’s blast. Kurogane used the opportunity to slice Reed from his shoulder through his ribs.

He felt the clicked of hi blade cutting through the controller. Reed’s body fell limp to the floor. His face was stuck in a surprised expression. Kurogane smashed his face with the heel of his boot. Sparks flew from the mechanics making Kurogane move back from it.

He had no idea how Yui figured it out. Many had debated over Reed’s use of daemons to elongate his life, but no one even thought he could be a daemon himself.

Yui released Mokona and Cerberus, “I’m sorry for that.”

Sakrua shook her head, “What was he?”

“A daemon,” Kurogane said, still staring at it.

“Yes,” Yui said, “And no. Clow Reed made many mistakes on the way to making Freya and Elda. He wanted to create a self-teaching daemon. Freya was the peak of his creations, but Fei Wang was one of those that failed. He could learn and think for himself, but he also completely controlled himself.”

Yui walked up to Kurogane, “Through him, Clow realized that daemons must be attached to a human. Otherwise, they lose sight of humanity. Clow couldn’t destroy his own creation.”

“Bastard,” Kurogane growled, “He just left his problems for us!”

Yui nodded, “That’s true, but he also gave us the solutions. I don’t see how he could have known about this, though.” He touched Kurogane’s chest.

His clothes hid the controller for his arm. It was linked with his heart and had been there since he nearly died in Celes. The regenerative nature of the controller saved him. Later, Fai simply connected it to Kurogane’s arm

“So, what now?” Syaoran asked.

Fai pointed behind them, “Get back to our armies, then get everyone home.”

Sakura pouted, “Promise you’ll let us visit.”

Yui laughed and hugged her, “Of course you can!”

Years in the making had brought them to a dead daemon to a long dead man.

And now it was all over.


	12. Epilogue

Yui and Kurogane were silent as they prayed over the graves. Yui peaked his eye open to see if the other was done, but quickly shut it to hide his impatience. Soon he was shifting on his knees to find a more comfortable position.

“You don’t have to stay like that as long as me,” Kurogane said, eyes still closed.

“I want to,” Yui pouted.

“No, you don’t.”

Yui opened his eyes and frowned more. Kurogane was right, of course. He didn’t enjoy kneeling on the ground for prolonged periods, but he wanted to show his respect. It had been a long time since they had come here together.

Yui sat on his bum and waiting for his lover to finish whatever he was telling his parents. 

Kurogane finally bowed down and sat back in a lounging position. He turned to Yui and touched his own chest, “You know, I always wondered why you put it here.”

“By the time I got to you, your heart was failing. The quickest solution was to put it in your heart. Otherwise the healing properties may have taken too long to spread,” he explained.

“Then why didn’t you give me the arm until… that night.”

Yui blushed furiously remembering it. Kurogane had been working jobs with them for a few years at that point. So, for his 21st birthday, Yui gave him a choice. He could either take out his chest piece and live a human life, or replace his missing arm and live for longer than everyone he knew.

Yui had expected to remove the piece, but KUrogane surprised him yet again. He told his parents what he wanted, and Yui installed a daemon. It was rudimentary and had no intelligent functions, but it was easy to keep his weapon and pass of information with it.

That night ended in Kurogane confessing his love in his silent, intense way. The two had made out all night, only to be caught by Fai restlessly walking the halls.

He was mad at first but came around to their relationship not long after. Kurogane’s parents were ecstatic that Kurogane had ‘finally said something.’ The situation was awkward for them both, but it was one of the best times in Yui’s life.

“Ginryuu made it impossible for you to go back to a normal, Shirasaki life. Dislodging any sort of daemon comes with a high price. I waited until you could make an informed decision… and you didn’t choose what I thought you would.”

“That’s because your blind when it comes to people loving you,” Kurogane rustled Yui’s hair,making him laugh.

“You’re right, and I’m happy my people still accept me as ruler.”

Kurogane shifted, “Are you going to retire? Train those eggs you sent off.”

“No, I won’t. Those children have their own lives. Yuuko gave them different daemons anyway, and they have no idea what they were meant to be.”

“Yuuko…” Kurogane shot up, “You mean the kid?!”

Yui pulled him back, “Calm down. I do mean him and his brother. I knew Yuuko could keep them safe, and she did far more than she needed to.”

“Syaoran doesn’t look Celesian.”

“None of us do anymore, and they lived all their lives in the sun. I imagine Yuuko also worked some magic while they were still in the eggs, too. Either way, I won’t ask either of them to abandon their lives,” he turned to Yui, “Is it alright? That I remain king, I mean.”

Kurogane took a moment to think. Dating a spy was hard enough. Dating a king would be a nightmare. Still, Yui was the most important person in the world.

He knelt on one knee and took Yui’s hand in his, swearing his mind and body to his king once more, “Whatever happens, I’ll be right beside you.”


End file.
